Pedders has been working the longest with GM on the Camaro. They were even working with GM before the official release of the car to the public. I will be going with them and their drag kit almost certainly.

There's always a difference. It's in the quality that you'll notice it.

Look at spring rates I'd compare spring rates and some prefer you to cut bumpstops. Sway bars vary a lot on size and whether you keep staggered wheels or not may require you to run a different set-up. But as far as the best company I'd say they are very close.

Look at spring rates I'd compare spring rates and some prefer you to cut bumpstops. Sway bars vary a lot on size and whether you keep staggered wheels or not may require you to run a different set-up. But as far as the best company I'd say they are very close.

We are going to do our best to explain our opinion on what makes Pfadt successful. I hope none of this is read as "bashing competition", because that is never our intent. Rather, we just want to explain our position in the market, and some of the positive characteristics we have as a company, and the benefits that get passed on to our customers.

At Pfadt, we take an engineering approach to the products we provide for the generation 5 Camaro market, among others. We have built a solid reputation in the Corvette C5 and C6 communities, using our expertise in engineering and motorsports to provide well thought out designs for customers looking to improve components on their Corvettte for the street, as well as the track. We have had much success in competition as a result of this approach. Our Camaro effort is no exception. We are attacking this market using the same ideals, knowledge and engineering principles that has given us this success. We test all of our products extensively, both in a virtual (digital) environment, and physical environment. Our Camaro line of products represents our best effort to provide much needed solutions to improving your experience with your Camaro.

We are an American company that provides products made in the USA. We pride ourselves on customer service and being "tangible" to our customers. If you need to speak to one of our engineers to ask why a product was designed a certain way, you can. If you want to speak to one of our owners, to discuss the differences in the sway bars we offer, you can. This is simply a function of our attitude, and we feel as though we need to provide this for people searching for answers. We are glad to do it.

Guess it would all depend on what you determine as "best". From a performance standpoint I believe Pedder's ran away from the others at the Optima Challenge. I will be running their XA Extreme Street package as soon as it arrives. But really they are all improvements over factory.

Pedders has done more testing on Camaro than anyone. We have more miles on the track than anyone. The fact that we make tons of track testing, does not mean our stuff is just for the track! It is just safer to test on the track rather than on the street. Our components are mad for the street, with a few exceptions, but it just happens to work very well on the Track. GM has tested our Camaro bits and have incorporated a lot of our stuff on the Riley's Technology G8 Camaro.

With respect to coils, it boil down to several items:
1. Spring rates will probably vary as much as 30-40%. but most of us, including Pedders, looks at these rates as proprietary.
2. Amount of the drop. We are all within about 1/2 inch or so of each other, but even that is quite a bit. What determined our level is what we feel the OE struts can handle safely.
3. A topic that is not discussed much is the amount of active coils. You can see this by driving on a 4 post rack, and see how many coils have gaps between them while others are fillers. This makes a big difference in ride quality and price of coils.
4. And most important, how will that manufacturer support you when you have questions.

Pedders manufactures their own coils and I think we have about 50 years experience doing it. We use seriously high quality steel, the best military shot peening process in the business. 100% of all Pedders coils are dyno tested, and have a 2mm tolerance.

We are going to do our best to explain our opinion on what makes Pfadt successful. I hope none of this is read as "bashing competition", because that is never our intent. Rather, we just want to explain our position in the market, and some of the positive characteristics we have as a company, and the benefits that get passed on to our customers.

At Pfadt, we take an engineering approach to the products we provide for the generation 5 Camaro market, among others. We have built a solid reputation in the Corvette C5 and C6 communities, using our expertise in engineering and motorsports to provide well thought out designs for customers looking to improve components on their Corvettte for the street, as well as the track. We have had much success in competition as a result of this approach. Our Camaro effort is no exception. We are attacking this market using the same ideals, knowledge and engineering principles that has given us this success. We test all of our products extensively, both in a virtual (digital) environment, and physical environment. Our Camaro line of products represents our best effort to provide much needed solutions to improving your experience with your Camaro.

We are an American company that provides products made in the USA. We pride ourselves on customer service and being "tangible" to our customers. If you need to speak to one of our engineers to ask why a product was designed a certain way, you can. If you want to speak to one of our owners, to discuss the differences in the sway bars we offer, you can. This is simply a function of our attitude, and we feel as though we need to provide this for people searching for answers. We are glad to do it.

As others have said, just give us a call. We're here.

I'm still a few months away from even getting my Camaro, but I've been checking the options, and decided coilovers and swaybars is what I want to add to the car as soon as I can, but I want to know what is the difference between Pfadt's coilovers and Pedders? It looks like the Pfadt are more expensive--what is it in your product that makes it worth more? Features, materials, performance, ride quality, adjustability....?

Since I can't do too much wrenching at my home now (snoopy wife and lack of tools) I'm looking to have the install done by someone who knows what they're doing, and since Pfadt's shop is only a few blocks from where I work you've got a leg up. Do you even do local installs? I'm interested in your response. Thanks.

Here is an overview of the Xas:
1. 30 way detented monotube. This means as long as you can count, you can feel confident about adjusting the dampers easily and then going back to a specific setting any time

2. Many coil overs will only allow you to adjust low and meduim seep control. Maximum control is factory preset only. On our Pedders Xa units, if you say make a 10% change, you will make a 10% change accross the entire speed sensitive mapping, in both jounce and rebound

3. Settings in the 0-5 clicks are slightly firmer than the OE. 10-12 clicks you are in an aggressive street setup. This is my favorite setting, which offers SERIOUS control with tons of comfort!. Settings in the 20 click range are at road race capable settings. You can go up to 30 clicks which is seriously firm!

4. GM Performance and GM Racing have checked out our Xas extensively. GM is one of our best customers. All GM owned Camaros at SEMA, including the Jay Leno Camaro, run our systems. We will be having a really cool announcement hopefully this week, but have to wait for the press release from GM.

5. Unlike many if not most companies, we do not care if you roadrace, drag race, etc. Our warranty is not affected.

6. We find full suspension travel is critical. Therefore, unlike many companies, you adjust the height of the Xas by threading the strut in/out of the lower mounting bracket. Spring travel, compression, and rate is totally unaffected. This means that your Camaro will have the same ride comfort at OE height to 2 plus inch drop.

7. We can raise the Camaro up to 1 inch or so, and drop it to over 2 inches

9. Our coil overs are totally suitable for all driving conditions an habits from aggressive street, to aggressive track driving, and both as long as you are willing to spend may 60 to 90 seconds to change the damping levels on all 4 struts.

JDP Motorsports in Sandy UT is a Pedders dealer for us. Thru his help we can arrange an install for you, and assist your installed on the technical aspects of installing our coil overs on your Camaro.
thanks
mike
dms

I'm still a few months away from even getting my Camaro, but I've been checking the options, and decided coilovers and swaybars is what I want to add to the car as soon as I can, but I want to know what is the difference between Pfadt's coilovers and Pedders? It looks like the Pfadt are more expensive--what is it in your product that makes it worth more? Features, materials, performance, ride quality, adjustability....?

Since I can't do too much wrenching at my home now (snoopy wife and lack of tools) I'm looking to have the install done by someone who knows what they're doing, and since Pfadt's shop is only a few blocks from where I work you've got a leg up. Do you even do local installs? I'm interested in your response. Thanks.

Because we have not officially launched our coilovers yet, there is not a tremendous amout of details out there on them. I'll try to fill in a few of the high points of what is coming very soon. Those of you who made it to SEMA could see the package, but that has been the only real public showing. I've added some info below in regards to the features of the Pfadt coilovers and why they are a bit more expensive as a result.

The main features of our Pfadt Coilovers:

*Inverted monotube design in on the front strut. This provides that really large shaft section that you see with our front coilover. That is important because the front strut takes cornering loads in these cars and the stiffer the tube, the better. This has the effect of placing the adjuster knob on the bottom of the strut for easy access. It is a click style adjuster with 20 clicks that are very positive and easy to feel. It is a simple matter of reaching around the front tire and making a couple of twists to change your damping. There are no unnecessary adjustment levels. More clicks does not mean more dampening.

*Inverted body design on the rear damper. This reduces unsprung mass (a good thing) and also places the adjuster at the bottom of the damper where you can reach it. It is also a click style adjuster wrapped around the shaft section just below the spring perch.

*Our dampers in both the front and rear feature single point adjust-ability which controls both compression and rebound damping together. This is a design that we have found to be very flexible and user friendly in our Corvette offerings. Basically, you do not need to be a damper engineer to be comfortable making adjustments and it is easy to switch from a 'street' setup to a 'track' setup with just a few clicks.

*Our damper are mono-tube design and feature a separate internal gas chamber, which in the industry is referred to as 'non-emulsion' design. Mono-tube non-emulsion shocks are what you find on most every production based race car everywhere. It is the best design and provides the most consistent and reliable operation. Many of the other offerings for the Camaro are not, ask the manufacturer if you are curious.

*Our coilovers take a 'standard' flat ground race spring. Many other use a custom spring to fit the Camaro specifically. Using a standard spring size allows extreme flexibility in spring rate choice. You can call up any race supplier and order springs in 25 lb/in increments that will work on our coilovers. We provide a set with our coilovers that will work well for most people, but the flexibility is there for those who want it.

*Our Coilovers work with our Pfadt camber plates. Adjust front camber easily, quickly, and in a repeatable fashion. These are good for well over an extra degree of negative camber (relative to the OEM adjustment). These are available separately, for the OEM strut, or our coilovers.

*Our Rear Coilovers address the misalignment of the shock and spring during bump and rebound by locating both on the same axis that articulates in our upper mount. We are the only manufacture that does this, most just use a custom wound spring that seats on the chassis like the OEM spring. Those units do not address or solve the problem whatsoever. We address the problem up front with our Pfadt Camber/Caster plates.

*Our coilover design has been the result of extensive testing, and engineering analysis. We have these capabilities in-house, and exploit this at every opportunity. Our company has expertise built on OE engineering, and actual motorsport experience.

As I mentioned in a previous post, another benefit of our company is that we are here to talk to you. If you want to speak with one of our engineers, just give us a call. We pride ourselves on customer interaction. I hope the points outlined above give you a good idea of the differences. Please get in touch with us if you need any further info, we appreciate it. Thanks!